Shattered Glass
by Ididathing
Summary: Elias struggles with the loss of his little sister.
1. Chapter 1

With the sound of shattering glass and crushing metal, Elias shot up in bed. He looked at the clock, 1:26 am. This was the fourth time this week he had woken up in sweat from the same dream. It had been 2 years to the date, to the hour, since Elias lost one of the most important people in his life. He was driving his little sister, Peyton, home from a party. He was angry with her for going to this party in the first place. It was a college party and she had just turned 16. He was scolding her like a father, seeing as they grew up without one he felt it was his job. The driver of the other car had been drinking and ran a red light. Elias didn't see them until it was too late and they had already slammed into the passenger side of his car. He has lived in constant guilt since the accident. He blames himself, he hated himself for the things he said to her. He had just gotten home from a house show when he got her call to come pick her up. He hadn't been home in 3 weeks and just wanted to sleep in his own bed, not play chauffer to his sister.

"Hey man, you look like shit" Dean said when he saw Elias walking through the halls of the arena the next day for TV. Dean felt a sharp smack on the back of his head, his wife Renee had head what he said and knew exactly what the date was. "It's January 15th Dean" She reminded him. "oh shit, sorry man I guess I lost track of the day. How you holding up today?" Elias shrugged and took a seat on top of the gear trunk next to Dean and Renee. Not a lot of his coworkers knew about the accident. Dean and Renee lived a town over from Elias and were on their way home that night when they came up to the accident scene. Renee was the one who called 911 while Dean helped Elias out of the car. "I haven't slept in days, I keep having the dream. It all feels so real again. I relive it so much and it's hard." Elias said while rubbing his eyes. "If you want we can go with you after the show, to the cemetary." Renee suggested. "You guys don't have to" Elias responded. " We've gone with you every year since, we're good man I'll even drive" Dean said as he got up from his seat.

Elias had a match set that night for the intercontinental championship against his good friend, Finn Balor. The match went off without a hitch despite the mood Elias was feeling. He did not walk out with the title that night but it did set the stage for a story line with the two at the Money in the Bank pay per view next month. Elias gathered his gear from the locker room and headed for the parking garage to meet Dean and Renee. They were a short drive away from Elias' home town where his sister is buried. It's been a very hard road for him to get passed the loss of his sister. "You ready?" Renee asked as she snapped Elias back to reality. "I'm never ready but, yeah let's do this" He said as he climbed in the back seat. Flashbacks of that day consumed his mind as they made the 100 mile drive. It was still so fresh even though it had been 2 years. He still kept the text message she sent him asking for a ride home that night, 'I know you just got home and all but I need a ride, Jenny's wasted'. He stared blankly at his phone when he felt the car make a sudden stop. "Sorry, Not quite used to all the deer around here" Dean said before getting the car under motion again.

They had finally reached their destination and Dean put the car in park and shut off the engine. Elias took a deep breath and picked up the bouquet of lilies from the seat beside him. His sister loved these deep red and yellow lilies and he's left her some every time he's came to visit her. "Damn P, I miss you. I know if you were here you'd be kicking my ass for this." He said wiping tears from his eyes. "You'd be forcing me to go out and find myself and honest woman to make an honest man out of myself. It's hard though, I can't stop beating myself up for what happened to you. Had I just stopped lecturing you and paid attention to the road." He stopped and wiped some more tears when he heard foot steps behind him. "Hey, you need a friend?" Dean asked pulling up a seat next to him on the ground. "I just miss her man, she was my baby sister. My job was to keep her safe" Elias said as he traced the name on the tombstone in front of him.


	2. Chapter 2

That night after Dean and Renee dropped him back off at home Elias found a bottle of whiskey and sat on his couch with photo albums. This had been his ritual the last two years, drowning his sorrows in booze and old memories. He came across a box of letters Peyton has written him while he was in Florida training for the WWE. She was such a fun loving, free spirited person. All of her letters were about silly teenage girl things but he missed them. He missed hearing her talk about her friends and how they annoyed her but she loved them anyway. He missed her always nagging him to let her tag along to shows. He would give anything to have that all back now. He looked at his now empty whiskey bottle and decided he should probably try and sleep some off before he had to be at the airport the next afternoon.

The sun shined through the blinds brightly the next morning. Elias pulled himself out of bed, greatly regretting the night before. He grabbed a quick shower and repacked his bag before heading to the airport. He boarded his plane hoping no one had booked the seat beside him. Unfortunately, that was not the case as one of his coworkers plopped down beside him. "Hey mister" Bayley said as she took her seat. "Well I guess if I'm forced to sit with someone at least it's you" Elias said with a small laugh. "But to warn you, my hungover ass may not be the best of company today" He added. "Oh that's 100 percent fine with me, but you okay?" Bayley asked. "I'm fine, just a long night" He said before putting in his ear buds and closing his eyes. Bayley didn't know much about Elias, he kept to himself for the most part. That was unknowingly about to change.

When they arrived at the arena Elias and Bayley were pulled into creative to discuss a new story line. "Now we're not doing this to make the two of you come off as a couple but we'd really like to pair you together for the new Facebook Mix Match Challenge series. We think you'd complement each other well." The two agreed and headed back toward the locker rooms. "Kinda weird isn't it?" Bayley asked when the closed the door behind them. "Why do you say that?" Elias asked. "Well, I'm portrayed as this bubbly happy fun loving person and well your gimmick is kinda of a brooding asshole" She said. "If the shoe fits" Elias answered with a shrug and headed into the locker room. Bayley stood in the hallway for a minute wondering just what he meant by that.

"Hey Renee, Can I talk to you for minute?" Bayley said flagging down Renee after her match. "What's up girly?" Renee asked. "I was paired up with Elias for this mix match tag team thing. I don't know anything about him but he said something earlier and I know you and Dean are pretty close to him and thought maybe you could help me make sense of it" Bailey said. "What'd he say?" Renee questioned. "Well I brought up how his gimmick is kind of a brooding asshole and he responded with 'If the shoe fits." She said with a puzzled look. "Look Bayls, I can't really tell you what's going on with him but he's had a few tough breaks personally the last few years. If he wants to let you in on that at some point that's up to him." Renee replied. "That's fine, I just thought maybe it was something easy like a bad break up or something but I wont push, hopefully this whole team thing fairs well for us" Bayley said and walked away, still with so many questions. She was actually intrigued to find out more about who Elias really is.


End file.
